Tears In The Rain
by Jayna
Summary: It's Ginny's fourth year, and she has a little trouble with Draco Malfoy. Does he want her heart, or is he playing with her mind? D/G, some R/Hr
1. The Suitcase

A/N The title doesn't make much sense yet, but it will. I promise. Later on, if it doesn't fit the story at all, I'll change it. I know this is a bit short, but what do you expect from me? If it doesn't make sense, all you need to do is ask. Oh yeah, almost forgot. *HEE HEE* I always forget!

Disclaimer: I own nothing *except the plot* as all that stuff belongs to JK Rowling. I wish I owned Draco. He's so sexy! By far my favourite...

Tears In The Rain

"Ginny!"

"Mom, where's Ginny?"

"I don't know, Ron."

"Maybe she's hiding in a suitcase," said George.

"Hilarious."

"I was joking..."

"I know. You're still not helping."

"I'm supposed to be doing that...?"

"George..."

Sigh. "Sorry mom."

Well, here I am. Oh, I can't wait to go back to Hogwarts... It'll be much better than listening to this all day. Thought Ginny. I'll be starting so many new subjects this year. God, I hope they're even remotely more interesting than, say, Defense Against the Dark Arts... If only they would stop arguing, I might actually enjoy coming back...

"GINNY!"

She turned around quickly, and fell right into the arms of Harry. "Harry! It's so great to see you again! I missed you so much... where's Hermione?" she asked.

Harry looked around once, and replied "I haven't seen her yet."

"Oh... Hey, there she is!"

Harry went to meet her, and kissed Hermione on the cheek. "Hey there. Haven't seen you in a while. Ginny's waiting to see you. Personally, I think she wants to squeeze you to death." He chuckled to himself, while Hermione went to hug Ginny. 

* * *

Later, when they all managed to get on the Hogwarts Express without actually killing each other, and settled comfortably, Ginny asked Harry. "Why did you kiss Hermione?"

Harry barely had time to blush when the compartment door slid open and Malfoy walked in. "What?! You kissed Granger? That filthy mudblood?"

Ron stood up and knocked his whole collection of chocolate frogs onto the floor. "Say that again," he threatened, pulling out his wand. "Oh, it's okay Ron. Don't listen to him," implored Hermione.

"She is not a mudblood!" said Ginny hotly. And Malfoy stared at her. "Well well, aren't we feisty. Don't look like that, it'll ruin your looks." And with that, he left, leaving a flushing fourth year behind.

PLEASE REVIEW! IT'S MY CATNIP!


	2. Invisible Diary

A/N Sorry this took so long to write. I had (and still have) writers' block, so this will probably sound incredibly stupid. I wish I had some inspiration…. Also, I made a mistake in the first chapter. In Hogwarts, you start new classes in Third Year, but Ginny's in Fourth Year in my story. But, if I change it to Ginny's Third Year, that would be at the same time as the TriWizard tournament, so I have no intention of correcting this. Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews! 

Disclaimer!!! Everything except the plot belongs to JK Rowling.

Tears In The Rain

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Chapter 2

After Malfoy left, no one wanted to say anything. There were no discussions of Quidditch, no teasing, no Ginny asking questions about Arithmancy. Hermione felt so bad that she couldn't even finish reading her school books. After an hour of silence, Ginny broke the silence.

"Why does he have to be so mean?"

Harry answered. " Well, Ginny, I don't really think there is a reason."

"Maybe he was born that way." Ron added.

"Oh, I don't believe anyone could be born that way." Ginny stated. "He must have had something horrible happen to him when he was little."

"Yeah, maybe he was dropped on his head at birth…"

"Don't be ridiculous." Then, as there really wasn't much to say, Ginny lapsed into silence again. Strange thoughts kept going through her head, but they had absolutely nothing to do with Malfoy, did they? _Oh, who am I kidding?_ Thought Ginny._ Stupid Malfoy, making me think about him. As if that doesn't happen often enough already. It's so stupid, though. I really don't like him a bit, and he just keeps popping into my head at the weirdest moments. Last week, he showed up while Percy was telling us how his secretary thought the security level at local shops in Diagon Alley was too low. 'Anyone could steal things these days.' She said. And right in the middle of this speech, I lost my mind and yelled out, "Get out of my head!" Actually, it was pretty funny. The look on Percy's face was hysterical! Fred even took a picture. But honestly, how did Malfoy ever get in my head anyway? He's got no right to be there._

"Ginny!" 

"Hmmm… what?" 

Hermione sighed. "Ginny, if you daydream any more, you're likely to forget your head. Honestly! Go and change, we're almost there." 

* * *

A few short minutes later, the Hogwarts Express pulled in to Hogsmeade, and everywhere there was the noise of students pushing their way off the train and into the carriages. Pretty soon, everyone was heading for Hogwarts. Well, all except a few people in the very last compartment. 

"Harry, have you seen my journal?" asked Ginny anxiously.

"Your journal???" he replied with wonder. "I didn't know you kept a diary. Tell me, what sort of secrets do you keep in there?"

Hermione heard him and yelled at him from where she was standing impatiently. "Harry, stop teasing her. Here, Ginny, let me help you."

"Why," Ron asked, "are you jealous? I mean, that is… not that I care… well, what I meant was… uh, never mind."

Hermione looked at him strangely, then went back to helping Ginny look. "As a matter of fact, I'm not. Though you'd never believe me anyway." She continued searching, but after ten minutes she gave up. 

"I'm really sorry, Ginny. But, I don't think it's here." Seeing Ginny's disappointment, she hastily added. "But I'm sure it will be there when we get back from the feast. Come on, Ron. We don't want to be late." 

"We won't be. Besides, all your nagging isn't going to make us walk any faster…"

Their voices faded away, and Ginny was left to walk to the carriages alone. When she finally reached them, there was no sign of Hermione or Ron. Even Harry seemed to have forgotten about her. She gave a little sigh, and got into the very last carriage. A minute later, someone else got in after her. She said hello absentmindedly, and turned to look out the window. 

"Don't you recognise me?" the newcomer asked.

Hearing that dawdling voice, she turned around to look at him properly.

"Malfoy! What the hell are you doing here?" she cried out in shock.

"What, don't you like me?"

* * *

Up at the feast, Hermione looked around at all the students that made up this place that she loved so much. All her fellow classmates, all the Gryffindors that were so much fun to be with, and the teachers who taught her so much from the start. Then she looked at her friends who have been there for her since First Year, and sighed. _Too bad I'm not going to be here much longer,_ she thought. _I'll miss them all so much, especially Ginny._

"Hey, where is she, anyway?" she asked Ron suddenly.

"Who, exactly?"

"Ginny, of course. Didn't you notice she's not here?" she said, forgetting that she only noticed a moment ago herself.

Ron replied, not taking his eyes off the food. "She's probably daydreaming again, right?"

* * *

What will happen next? Why is Hermione leaving Hogwarts? Will they find Ginny? Where will her diary appear? Will Ginny throw Draco out of the carriage? What does he want, anyway? Will Ron ever stop looking at the food? The answer to these and many other questions will be in the next episode. Stay tuned!


	3. Break My Heart

Disclaimer!!! All characters, and such stuff belongs to JK Rowling. The plot is mine. 

A/N I'm really sorry about the eons it took to write this chapter. See, having two stories going at the same time is making my effort on each lots less. Anyway, here it is!

Tears In The Rain

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Chapter 3

Ginny, fuming with anger, jumped out of the carriage and started for Hogwarts. Seconds later, someone grabbed her arm, and she nearly fell down. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" she said angrily. "Isn't it enough that you think I'm worthless, or do you simply insist on causing bodily harm as well?"

"Well, I see we're in no mood to exchange pleasantries. You've almost got the hang of being sarcastic." Draco looked slowly down at her dripping hair, and a smirk came onto his face. "But I don't think you're in a position to argue about your worth. You look like a drowned rat."

Ginny slapped him across the face, then brushed back her long red hair. "Better? Or do you want me to slap you again?"

"Actually, perhaps we can continue this some other time, as there's only one carriage left, and I want to be at Hogwarts some time before classes start tomorrow."

Ginny turned to stare at the one gloomy looking carriage standing nearby, and didn't reply. The sky was darkening, but it finally stopped raining, and she could see a sliver of moonlight shining through the clouds. _This is no time to get sentimental about how beautiful this looks. I can't believe I got stuck with Malfoy. I should thank my friends for that. God, it's as if they wanted me to be with him. No, that's impossible…_

"Weasley, do you want to walk to Hogwarts? Because I really have no problem with that. You can even stay out here forever if you want."

"No thank you."

"Well then I suggest you climb in."

Once Ginny was inside the carriage, it pulled away, and she immediately regretted climbing back in. _Stupid thoughts. Why is it that Draco pops into my head at the worst times? Oh no! I've started calling him 'Draco'. This is a tragedy! What am I going to do? Damn him. I wish he wasn't here at all. I wish he was a million miles away, about to be tortured by the Muggle version of Voldemort's supporters. Something like the Nazis Harry told me about a few weeks ago. Oh, wouldn't that be fantastic! No more Draco thoughts! _

"Killing me in your imagination, Weasley?" He smirked at her surprised expression, then continued. "I hope you at least included a rather fancy ceremony where I get to, oh I don't know, kill off all my servants so they can serve me in the afterlife. Don't look so shocked. I know what you're thinking. By the way, what is it about me that makes you fantasize about me so much?"

"Why are you here? As far as I recall, 'a Malfoy will never disgrace himself by being in the company of Weasleys'. Perhaps you should leave, for the sake of your family honour."

"What do you want me to do? Jump out of the carriage? And I'm here to return your journal." He pulled the worn book out of his pocket, and studied it with a look on his face somewhere in between mild curiosity and amusement. "Quite interesting things you have in there. I never knew you had erotic dreams before."

"Hey!" Ginny reached for her journal, but Draco smacked her hand away. "Now now, don't be so impatient. 'Good things come to those who wait.." He started chuckling quietly.

His chuckle died the instant Ginny's hand connected with his sore cheek. "How dare you read that? It's mine!"

Draco looked at Ginny, rage playing on his face. He tossed her the book, then said calmly. "You're not an angel. Once in a while, take a good look in the mirror. Maybe you'll see that." The carriage jerked to a stop, and Draco stepped out into the falling rain.

He didn't see the tear slipping down Ginny's cheek.


	4. Toast, anyone?

Disclaimer!!! None of the characters, settings, blah blah blah belong to me; they are JK Rowling's doing. The plot is mine, though, and I can abuse them all I want, so please don't flame.

A/N Since ff.net has been down for ever, I obviously haven't done anything, and because of that, I've decided to drop my other story, so you can now expect AT LEAST one chapter every two weeks. That excludes exam times. Thanks all for the lovely reviews. I know I made Draco evil, but I simply couldn't resist. Besides, you can't have a happy ending in the middle of a story. Anyways, here's chapter 4!

Tears In The Rain

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Chapter 4

Harry slowly walked up the stairs to his dorm. Ginny hadn't shown up for the feast, which was odd. She loves watching the sorting. Only something serious would've kept her away. Thinking about the past two weeks that he'd spent at the Weasley's Harry just couldn't come up with anything bad that happened then. Ginny was so excited about going back to Hogwarts; there wasn't any time to be upset. 

Harry got into his bed, and mumbled a quiet good night to Ron. Snores answered him, but he didn't notice. Something wasn't right. A tiny detail tugged at his memory, and for hours Harry tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Finally, he remembered: in Diagon Alley, Ginny had gone to get her schoolbooks by herself. Not quite five minutes later, she'd come back, mumbling something about getting her books later. After that, she didn't say anything. Harry was quite sure that Ginny didn't just decide to stay with them; she wasn't all that comfortable around him, or his friends. Who knows, maybe she just got lonely. _Or maybe whe was jealous. _But that was ridiculous. 

He turned over onto his side, and there was the alarm clock, almost threatening him with its red digits. Squinting, he saw it was 3:24. "I should go to sleep. It won't do if I have potions tomorrow, and sleep through Snape's lecture." He muttered.

Deciding to ask Hermione about it, he turned over again, and fell asleep.

* * *

"So, who's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Let's hope it's someone good this time." 

Hermione put down her toast, and replied. "Last year we had a great teacher, just look at how much we learned."

"Well, besides the fact that he was a fake." Ron stole her toast and began drawing little broomsticks on it with purple icing. "I hope this time he at least provides his own glass eye. Not that I have anything against escaped murdering Death Eaters teaching students how to kill spiders. If he was teaching the tango, I wouldn't mind so much…"

"Ron…"

"Alright, the waltz. Honestly, what's the difference?"

Hermione picked up her schedule. "At least we got the morning off. The first, second, and third years didn't. Count your blessings."

"You mean, 'be glad that we didn't get Snape, and laugh as much as you want at all the first-years suffering as we speak?'"

At that moment, Ginny walked in and plopped down into an empty chair. Not paying any attention to Ron and Hermione's argument, she picked up the piece of toast and took a bite out of it. Seeing that, Ron's jaw dropped, and he forgot the argument in favor of the now ruined masterpiece.

"Are you mad?" he shouted. "You ate my Quidditch game!"

Ginny gave him a weird look, and continued devouring the toast, pissing him off completely. Ron recovered from his shock, and grabbed it from her hands. A second later, Ginny rewarded him with a nice, solid smack.

"What do you thing you're bloody doing?" yelled Ginny.

The whole table now turned its attention on the fight, Hermione covered her face in embarrassment, and the Weasley twins started accepting bets on who would win. Ron picked up another piece of toast and chucked it at Ginny. Unfortunately he missed, and it hit Seamus. Seamus said a diplomatic 'What the hell!' and threw it back. It smacked Lavender in the head, who was only passing by the fight on her way to Divination. Soon enough the rest of Hogwarts noticed the spectacle, and Flitwick (the only professor at lunch so far) rushed to sort out the mess, succeeding only in getting himself covered in purple icing.

During the general commotion, Harry was making his way to the Great Hall, and trying to come up with a discreet way to get Hermione's attention about Ginny. One of the paintings suggested that he asked Ginny himself, but the idea wasn't too appealing considering Ginny's crush on him. _There's no way Ginny will tell me anything; she's so shy._ He rounded the corner still absorbed in his thoughts, and accidentally knocked into someone. That someone fell.

"Oops, sorry." He said. Then he looked up at the person, and swore.

"You'd better be." Malfoy got up and dusted himself off. "You've got glasses, you should be able to see where you're going."

Harry bit back a retort, but glared at Malfoy anyway.

"By the way," he continued, "I wouldn't go in there. It's not pretty."

"Why not?" Harry asked. "Seems safe to eat breakfast to me."

Malfoy glared back, and replied. "Your friend Weasley and his sister started a fight. Actually, maybe you should go save her from Big Bad Brother. She'll be ever so grateful. Maybe you'll get another valentine." He sneered at the other boy, and left.

Harry stood for a minute, thinking. Draco's words rang in his ear. _Maybe you should go save her from Big Bad Brother. Maybe you'll get her another valentine. _"Maybe you should shove off, Malfoy." He turned back to the Great Hall, and walked inside. Almost right away, a blueberry muffin flew past him and hit Professor Snape. 

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" he bellowed. The entire hall froze. There was a small plop as a stack of pancakes fell of the Gryffindor table. Harry could hear someone chuckling behind him. He turned to look, and there was Malfoy. He'd come back to watch the fun, bringing with him half the faculty.

"Professor, I believe it was Ronald and Ginny Weasley." He said quietly.
__

Not quietly enough, Harry thought. 

A/N This chapter is not screwed up anymore. I edited it a bit, and it now fits chapter 5 nicely. Should be the other way, chapter 5 edited to fit nicely, but this way is better. Anyways, hope you enjoyed.


	5. Detention

A/N I hate when ff ****

A/N I kinda promised myself that this would be out a lot earlier, but I got lazy and my muse is still on vacation in the Bahamas. Please don't kill me for that. I do have a redeeming feature: this chapter is well over a thousand words. Yay me! And the most important part, this is dedicated to the tragedy of September 11 and all who suffered. 

****

DISCLAIMER!!! None is mine. I don't say it's mine. Don't sue me. I have no money.

Tears In The Rain

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Chapter 5

Malfoy stood there, smiling like an idiot with an ice-cream. Well, almost smiling. No one could call that odd snickering look a smile; the word wasn't quite that broad, nor the minds of students that imaginative. He had a reason, though, for almost smiling. Absolutely nothing compared to the joy of getting several Gryffindors into deep trouble, especially when it involved the poor, muggle-loving Weasleys.

Stupid Weasleys, he wished so much that they never existed. Especially Ron. Him and his friend, the hero Potter. They caused him so much misery, and so much of his precious energy was wasted on hating them passionately. Well, strongly, anyway. It's hard to think of the word 'passion' and 'Potter' being involved in any way. Well, except maybe when Ginny Weasley was part of it.

Yeah, he could imagine that. Potter, hero of the universe, and the Weasley girl, adorer of anyone and everyone with the title "Hero of the Universe". That didn't leave much room for anyone besides Perfect Potter. That didn't leave much room for him, either. 

Good God have mercy, what was he thinking? 

Well, he could admit, she was pretty. Not a bad body, either. Curvaceous, almost lusciously so, with smooth, pearly skin, most likely. She had that kind of skin on her legs. He should know, he saw them once. That time she'd stumbled and fell down the staircase, she ended up at the bottom, semiconscious, with her robes hitched up to her thighs. Nice thighs. Then there was her red hair. A silky cascade of waist-length hair designed to lure unsuspecting young sailors like the Hero of the Universe into a trap, an entangelement. He doubted anyone could get out of her hair once they got tangled. That trap was Hellish. Being surrounded by all that red hair, you'd feel surrounded by flames. If you got close enough, you could feel the heat radiating off her hair. The final trap, though, was her pair of eyes. Definitely her green liquid eyes. That was where the unsuspecting sailor drowned. 

Malfoy, of course, hated her anyway.

* * *

The much thought of Ginny quietly followed Professor Snape. It was so embarrassing being caught in a food fight. It wasn't her fault, either. Ron started it. All she had done was eat a piece of toast, and he started freaking out. It's not like she went and painted moustaches on all his Chudley Cannons posters. Now Snape was going to give her a detention to last this lifetime and the next seventeen or so. If only Malfoy hadn't told him, but that was too much to hope for. 

Ginny glared at him, only to see a faint, almost-not-there blush creep over his cheeks. _Wonder what he's thinking about,_ Ginny said to herself. _It can't be anything too decent, or he wouldn't look like that. Probably Pansy Parkinson. She's the only girl it could possibly be, given what everyone says about her. Crabbe and Goyle aren't the only ones, then. I don't see how blokes can fantasise about Pansy, but can't fantasise about me._

Snape continued leading them somewhere completely unknown to Ginny, although she was sure it couldn't be anywhere pleasant. Snape's punishments were rumoured to be even more horrific than Filch's, which were quite bad enough. She only hoped it had nothing to do with the Forbidden Forest, or with helping Hagrid feed his collection of odd and extremely dangerous animals.

They turned a corner, and proceeded to walk down a grimy staircase. The walls were so close; they could all see the cobwebs hanging everywhere. Ginny could even catch a glimpse of little grey spiders climbing around. She guessed Ron could see them too, by the way he kept trying to stay exactly in the middle, so as not to touch any of them. That was quite hard to do. Somewhere about half of the way down weird tapestried depicting the first Slytherin hung off the walls. They were too dusty to make out any of the detail, so Ginny couldn't quite make out what Slytherin was supposed to be doing. She guessed he was making a potion, but she obviously wasn't about to ask Snape. He'd only sneer at her, and probably give her an even worse punishment. Every step took them lower and lower, and closer to their evil fate.

Sooner than she'd expected, and a lot sooner than she wanted, Snape stopped them and with a slight sneer announced their arrival at what they all knew was his office, but what looked like the entrance to an abandoned prison cell. The professor produced a rusty set of keys, which glowed a faint silver despite their brownish colour, and unlocked the door. He pushed it open, and stepped inside. Both Weasleys followed with a slight shiver. Snape lit a fire in his gigantic black fireplace, and took his place behind an equally gigantic black table. 

"Sit." He ordered. Ginny looked at the two chairs, and cringed. They were a blood red colour, and were coated with grime. Ginny reluctantly sat down. A cold wind blew from the small window, and guttered the fire. Ginny involuntarily shuddered, and wrapped her robes tightly around her body. 

"Now, as it is perfectly obvious that you two started the whole event, both of you will be getting detentions." He sat back, and pressed his fingertips together, as if in thought, then continued. "It would be so much more pleasant if you had separate detentions, wouldn't it?"

Ginny glanced down at the hem of her robes. She was counting on having Ron there with her. Yes, he was an overprotective idiot, but at least she wouldn't be stuck doing some horrible detention all by herself. Wondering what evil thing Snape would make her do, she looked up.

"I have decided that you, Ronald Weasley, can help Professor Sprout degrime her greenhouses. I'm sure you will find that enjoyable." Ron groaned out loud, and Snape gave him a sneer. "What's the matter, boy? Reluctant, are we? You should have thought of detention before causing a mess in the Great Hall. You may go." Ron gave Ginny a sympathetic look, which she ignored, and quietly left the room.

"Ginny." It was more of a command than anything. She turned to face him, dread in her eyes. "Mr. Malfoy has informed me that _you_ were the cause of this particular mess. Therefore it seems to me that you should be the one to get the more _unpleasant_ task." He paused for effect, then sneered at the pleasure that his threat had quite hit its intended mark. "Our second year Hufflepuffs managed to splatter a fair amount of sheep's brain all over my classroom earlier this morning. You, as the punished, will clean up their accident. Filch has enough duties of his own these days, as your Harry Potter and his friends seem to cause a mess wherever they go. As you clean, remember that if I find so much as a spot of grime anywhere, you will be serving another detention where you can finish your task."

Snape got up and went to relight the fire. "You can also clean up the books. They don't handle sheep's brains very well. EVERYTHING must be clean." Snape sat down again, then extracted a long piece of parchment from a cabinet beside his desk. "There is another matter that must be discussed as well. This seems like a perfect opportunity to do so." He paused to scrutinize the parchment, then put it back in the dusty cabinet. "Your mark in potions last year was near-abysmal." Snape sneered, and Ginny could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks at the memory of her test results. "I have, after some discussion with several people, decided to give you a tutor. You may need it. The reason I am doing so is not to help you pass the course, which you are already doing so, but to improve your overall mark. You have some natural talent for potions, but your mark goes down a considerable amount because of your failure of the examination. Come to my classroom after dinner tonight. You will serve your detention then. Come on time, I do not tolerate lateness." He got up to leave, but Ginny detained him further.

"Wait, who is my tutor?" She asked.

"That, Weasley, we will discuss at a later date. Now, I believe, you have a class to attend. Unless you wish to receive another detention?"

Ginny blushed once more, and rushed out of the drafty room.

What a horrible detention, cleaning his dungeon. It's not fair, why does Ron get the easy one? It's going to take so long to clean all that up.

Glad to be out of the dungeons and in a well-lit and warm hallway, Ginny sighed and rushed upstairs.


End file.
